Two major teaching unions are considering balloting members over industrial action if a significant pay increase is not offered, amid high inflation rates.
The NEU teaching union said a letter will be sent to education secretary Nadhim Zahawi on Wednesday saying the union is prepared to ballot its members if a pay rise more in line with inflation is not offered.
However, any ballot will not be called until Mr Zahawi responds to the conclusions of the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) report, which is expected to be released at the end of the school year.
The NEU and the NASUWT teaching union have both called for pay rises that reflect rising inflation levels.
However, the chief secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke has warned today that public sector workers will not receive pay rises that matches the current rate of inflation.
The NEU has said an initial indicative ballot would be taken, followed by a formal ballot if the first result suggests members support strike action.
NASUWT leaders have called for a 12 per cent pay increase for teachers this year and said it will ballot members in England, Wales and Scotland for industrial action if its demands are not met.
A pay award for 2022-23 is due in November.
NASUWT also said that energy bills had shot up by 54 per cent, but the value of teachers’ pay has slumped by 20 per cent.
Two in three teachers are questioning whether to change careers due to wages, NASUWT said.
Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, said: “The case for a better deal for teachers will be set out in full this Wednesday in our letter to the secretary of state.
“If it should fall on deaf ears, and teachers are offered a pay rise significantly below inflation, then we will proceed to an indicative ballot of our members.
“Teachers have had enough of a government that simply does not value them.
“The combination of unsustainable hours, the work intensity during those hours and ever-falling pay levels are damaging for our schools and the young people we are educating.
“The government has so far been unwilling to acknowledge and properly remunerate the work that teachers do.
“Teacher pay has fallen by a fifth in real terms since 2010.
“We need a pay deal for all teachers that recognises this reality.”
Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of NASUWT, said: “The country faces an existential emergency for the future of the teaching profession.
“Teachers are suffering, not only from the cost-of-living crisis, which the whole country is grappling with, but 12 years of real-terms pay cuts, which has left a 20 per cent shortfall in the value of their salaries.
“If the government and the pay review body reject a positive programme of restorative pay awards for teachers, then we will be asking our members whether they are prepared to take national industrial action in response.
“The government wrongly assumed teachers would simply stand by as they erode pay and strip our education system to the bone.
“But this weekend, thousands of teachers, from every corner of the UK, joined together to demonstrate our strength, unity and determination to stand up and to fight back.
“Our message is clear and has now been delivered directly to the government on their doorstep.
“We will not allow cuts to our members’ pay and attacks on their pensions.
“If a pay rise is not awarded, it will be won by our members in workplaces through industrial action.”
‘Danger’ of ‘simply decimating teacher supply’
The NASUWT and NEU were represented in a large rally on Saturday, organised by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which saw thousands of protesters march through central London to demand better pay and working conditions.
Speaking on the Radio 4 Today programme on Monday morning, Dr Bousted said the union was waiting for the latest inflation figures to be published on Wednesday before it wrote to the education secretary.
Dr Bousted said there was a “danger” that the country was “simply decimating teacher supply”.
She added that the government will have some time to respond and get into negotiation to “avert any strike by teachers”, adding “this is the last thing our members want to do” and that it was a “cry for help”.
Dr Bousted said: “We all know what an immensely important job teachers do, but they haven’t been valued for that job.
“And now they are finding that their cost-of-living crisis is so great that it is driving them, along with excessive workload, away from the profession and we all know that ends in an even greater teacher supply crisis, an even greater threat to the standards of education.”
Dr Bousted set the union was set to have an “indicative survey” of members next term to see whether they want to move to a formal ballot. She said if teachers don’t get a rise “in line with inflation”, NEU will be surveying members early “after the start of the next school year”.
“If they indicate that they wish to take strike action, we will move to a full ballot.”
£30,000 starting salary for teachers target
Earlier this year, the Department for Education asked the national pay body to recommend the starting salary for teachers reaches £30,000 by 2023 and admitted that a “significant” pay rise was needed to recruit and retain staff to the profession.
In order to reach the £30,000 starting salary ambition, it has proposed an 8.9 per cent uplift to the statutory minimum (M1) for qualified teachers outside of London in 2022-23.
It has then recommended this be followed by a 7.1 per cent increase in 2023-24, to reach £30,000 within two years.
However, it is also proposing smaller increases, of around 5 per cent over two years, for more experienced teachers on upper pay ranges.
The chief secretary to the Treasury has warned today that public sector workers’ pay will not rise in line with inflation in order to prevent “a repeat of the 1970s”.
Mr Clarke told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “In the current landscape of inflation at 9 per cent, bordering 10 per cent, it is not a sustainable expectation that inflation can be matched in payoff.
“That’s not something that’s going to be seen across, frankly, the private sector as well as the public sector.
“We cannot get into a world where we are chasing inflation expectations in that way because that is the surest way I can think of to bake in a repeat of the 1970s, which this government is determined to prevent.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said the department was “incredibly grateful for the continued efforts of teachers and school leaders in supporting pupils”.
The spokesperson said the department was “taking action to support teachers to stay in the profession and thrive, working to deliver pay increases and pay awards for new and experienced teachers”.
“We have also invested £760,000 in a new mental health support scheme for school leaders, and launched the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, which commits to reducing unnecessary teacher workload, championing flexible working and improving access to wellbeing resources,” they added.
